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5/16: Redefining • Please respond to the clip of “Pillow Talk” (1959) we watched in class. How does 1950s society view Brad as a single man, and Jan as a single woman? How are they treated differently by people? What does the institution of marriage mean to the characters in the film? What type of behavior is encouraged in men and women? Do we still see some of these societal trends today?
A Women’s Movement Arises • Following World War II, most women gave up their jobs to returning servicemen and went back to their homes to take care of their families • Popular culture portrayed the housewife as the personification of the “good life” • However, many women wanted to move beyond this stereotype and gain sexual equality
Historians often refer to the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s as the second wave of feminism, or the theory of political, social, and economic equality of men and women • Several factors influenced this rebirth
Seeking to Redefine Traditional Roles • The civil rights struggle prompted women to look at the ways in which society judged and discriminated against them as a group • Many women objected to the inaccuracy of the housewife stereotype – some needed work to support themselves or their families • Others wanted more opportunities than their lives as housewives could offer
Looking for Better Work • Even women with training and education had their access to careers or advancement blocked by blatant discrimination • Facing such restrictions, women increasingly demanded equal treatment in the workplace
“The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction… Each suburban housewife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffered Cub Scouts and made Brownies, lay beside her husband at night – she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question – “Is this all”? • Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963
Women Find Their Voices • Several years after she wrote The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan helped establish the National Organization for Women (NOW) • The organization dedicated itself to winning “true equality for all women”
NOW’S Goals and Tactics • NOW set out to break down barriers of discrimination in the workplace and in education • It attacked stereotypes of women in the media and called for more balanced roles in marriages • NOW had two major priorities:
The first was to bring about passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), an amendment to the constitution that would guarantee gender equality under the law • The second was to protect reproductive rights, especially the right to an abortion
ERA: Section 1 • “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex”
Raising Society’s Awareness • Some feminists, like Gloria Steinem, tried to change awareness through the mass media • After graduating from college, Steinem worked as a freelance writer, including a stint of undercover work at a club run by Playboy magazine
While society tended to view Playboy bunnies in glamorous terms, Steinem revealed how much humiliation they had to endure to make a living • In 1972, she founded Ms., a feminist magazine
“Sex and race, because they are easily visible differences, have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups, and into the cheap labor on which this system still depends.” • Gloria Steinem
Opposing the Women’s Movement • Some Americans – both men and women – openly challenged the women’s movement • Phyllis Schlaflywas a conservative political activist who denounced women’s liberation as a “total assault on the family, on marriage, and on children”
She worked hard to defeat the ERA, arguing that the act would compel women to fight in the military • Her argument resonated with many conservatives • Without their support, the ERA fell three states short of becoming a constitutional amendment
“Feminism is doomed… because it [attempts] to repeal and restructure human nature.” • “Women have babies, and men provide support. If you don’t like the way we’re made you’ve got to take it up with God.” • Phyllis Schlafly
Lasting Effects of the Women’s Movement • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave feminists a legal tool • It included a clause, called Title VII, that outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex
The clause was actually inserted by civil rights opponents, who thought it was so outlandish that it would make the entire bill look ridiculous • When the bill actually passed, however, women used Title VII to challenge discrimination
President Kennedy established the Commission on the Status of Women in 1961 to examine workplace discrimination
Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1972 banned discrimination in education • The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, passed in 1974, made it illegal to deny credit to a woman just because of her gender
Some feminists considered their most important legal victory to be the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which assured women the right to legal abortions • Prior to Roe, most states outlawed or severely restricted abortion • Some women turned to illegal and often dangerous ways to end their pregnancies
The Workplace Slowly Changes • The percentage of women in the workforce has grown, from about 30 percent in 1950 to more than 60 percent in 2000 • The average women still earns less than the average man, partly because women continue to work in fields that pay less • “The pink collar ghetto”
Today, the majority of the nation’s poor people are single women • These are the women in the lowest-paying jobs, with the fewest benefits • Many of these poor women are also single mothers
How is the modern woman different from the woman of the 1890s, 1920s, 1950s, 1970s?
The New Equal Rights Amendment • In each group, please list ten facets of American life where there she should be guaranteed equality between the sexes
